Patent GB-190323178-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Knitting Machines.
Inventor: JOHNSON JAMES YATE
Filed: 1903-10-26
Granted: 1904-01-14
Abstract: 23,178. Johnson, J. Y., [Scott, R. W., and Williams, L. N. D.]. Oct. 26. Circular knitting-machines.- A method is described for lifting the fashioning-needles one by one out of action and then replacing them one by one during the knitting of the heel or toe of a stocking. Fig. 1 is a developed view of the inside, and Fig. 2 of the outside, of the needle - operating cam cylinder with the cams and needle-pickers. The butts of the fashioning - needles are shorter than the butts of the ordinary needles. All the butts rest on the ledge 4 during the production of tubular work with the exception of those needles engaged by the knitting-cams 3, 3, 2, 5. Prior to narrowing, the long-butted needles are raised out of action by the cam 8 which slides radially through a slot in the cam-cylinder at predetermined times, and may be operated by the mechanism described in Specification No. 12,983, A.D. 1901. The needle-pickers consist of arms 12 pivoted at 13 to the cam-cylinder, and bear pivoted fingers 10, 11, the recessed ends of which engage the needle-butts. The springs 14 are attached to the picker-fingers, and control not only the latter but also the arms 12. During the production of tubular work, the slide 17, which is allowed a limited range of motion by screw stops, is placed in the middle position, and all the pickerfingers are held by it out of action. Immediately preceding the narrowing operation, the instep needles are lifted out of action by the cam 8 and the slide 17 is brought to the position shown in Fig. 2. By this means, the lifting or narrowing picker-fingers 10 run down the inclines 18 to their lowest point. The depressing-pickers 11 are not disturbed. While unfashioned work is being produced, supposing the cam-cylinder to rotate from left to right, the needle-butts from the ledge 4 first run over the sliding block 6, then up the right-hand cam 5, then down, guided by the edge of the sliding cam 7 into the groove between the left-hand cam 5 and the cam 2 finally lifting the left-hand block 6, and so out of the cam-grooves on to the ledge 4 again. During fashioning, the cam-cylinder is reciprocated, and the needles move as before with the exception of the first needle which is carried along with one of the lifting- pickers up the cam 15 and over the sliding cam 7. As the picker moves in a tangential plane and the needle is carried round in a circle, the picker-finger gradually edges away from underneath the needlebutt, and is finally returned by its spring 14. On the return motion of the cam-cylinder, the other lifting-picker takes the first needle presented to it, and thus the web is narrowed by the removal from action of alternate selvage needles. Before returning the inactive fashioning-needles for widening, the slide 17 is moved in the direction of the arrow on Fig. 2 as far as the stops permit. This allows the springs 14 to draw the pickerfingers 11 to their highest point where they can be acted on by the duplex incline 16 of the camcylinder and also puts the lifting-pickers out of action. The inactive fashioning-needles are then brought down one at a time with alternate pickerfingers 11 by the cam 11. When all the fashioning- needles are in action, the slide 17 is placed in its middle position and the long butted needles are put in action by the cam 9. The springs 14 on the picker-fingers 10 may be dispensed with.